Troy -  On January 5, 1789 a group of freeholders met at Ashley’s Tavern and changed the name of ‘Ashley’s Ferry’, their recently settled community on the east banks of the Hudson River, to Troy. By 1791 Troy became a town from part of the Rensselaerwyck Manor.  It became a city in 1816. The classical naming convention continued at Utica, Rome, Syracuse and westward.  The city's motto is Ilium fuit, Troja est, which means "Troy was, Troy is."

Troy,  several miles north of Albany, was once the 5th most prosperous city in the U.S.  With abundant water and other resources,, Troy was the transshipment point for meat and vegetables from Vermont which were sent by the Hudson River to New York City. The Federal Dam at Troy is the head of the tide in the Hudson River and Hudson River sloops and steamboats plied the river on a regular basis. This trade was vastly increased after the construction of the Erie Canal, with its eastern terminus directly across the Hudson from Troy at Cohoes in 1825. and later, with the 1825 opening of the Erie Canal at the north end in Cohoes,  Troy became an ideal place for manufacturing and distribution.

Troy is now home to Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Russell Sage College, Hudson Valley Community College and the Emma Willard School.

The site of the city was a part of the Van Rensselaer grant of 1629. Dirck Van der Heyden was one of the first settlers. A local legend that a Dutch girl had been kidnapped by an Indian male who did not want her to marry someone else gained some credence when two skeletons were found in a cave under Poestenkill Falls in the 1950's. One skeleton was female and Caucasian with an iron ring. The other was Native-American and male.  In 1707, Dirk purchased a farm of 65 acres which in 1787 was laid out as a village.

Northern and Western New York was a theater of the War of 1812, and militia and regular army forces were led by Stephen Van Rensselaer of Troy. Quartermaster supplies were shipped through Troy. A local butcher and meat-packer named Samuel Wilson supplied the military, and, according to an unprovable legend, barrels stamped "U.S." were jokingly taken by the troops to stand for "Uncle Sam" meaning Wilson. Troy has since claimed to be the historical home of Uncle Sam.

 Troy's one-time great wealth was produced in the steel industry, with the first American Bessemer converter erected on the small Postenkill river in a small valley near the middle of the city. The industry first used charcoal and iron ore from the Adirondacks. Later on, ore and coal from the Midwest was shipped on the Erie Canal to Troy, and there processed before being sent on down the Hudson to New York City. The iron and steel was also used by the extensive federal arsenal across the Hudson at Watervliet, New York, then called West Troy. After the American Civil War, the steel production industry moved west to be closer to raw materials. The presence of iron and steel also made it possible for Troy to be an early site in the development of iron storefronts and steel structural supports in architecture, and there are some significant early examples still in the city.

The initial emphasis on heavier industry later spawned a wide variety of highly engineered mechanical and scientific equipment. Troy was the home of W. & L. E. Gurley, Co., makers of precision instruments. Gurley's theodolites were used to survey much of the American West after the Civil War and were highly regarded until laser and digital technology eclipsed the telescope and compass technology in the 1970's. Bells manufactured by Troy's Meneely and Jones Bell  Companies ring all over the world. And Troy was also home to a manufacturer of racing shells who used impregnated paper in a process that presaged the later use of fiberglass, Kevlar and carbon fiber composites.

This scientific and technical proficiency was supported by the presence of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, or RPI, one of the highest-ranked engineering schools in the country. RPI was originally sponsored by Stephen Van Rensselaer, one of the most prominent members of that family. RPI was founded in 1824, and eventually absorbed the campus of the short-lived, liberal arts Troy University, (which closed during the Civil War). Rensselaer founded RPI for the "application of science to the common purposes of life", and is the oldest technological university in the English-speaking world. The institute is known for its success in the transfer of technology from the laboratory to the marketplace.

On December 23, 1823, The Troy Sentinel was the first publisher of the world-famous Christmas poem "A Visit from St. Nicholas" (also known as "The Night Before Christmas" or "Twas the Night Before Christmas"). The poem was published anonymously. Its author has long been believed to have been Clement Clarke Moore, but its author is now regarded by some to have been Henry Livingston, Jr.

Troy was an early home of professional baseball, and was the host of two major league teams. The first team to call Troy home was the Troy Haymakers, a National Association team in 1871 and 1872. One of their major players was Williams H. "Bill" Craver, a noted catcher and Civil War veteran, who also managed the team. Their last manager was Jimmy Wood, reckoned the first Canadian in professional baseball. The Troy Haymakers folded, and Troy had no team for seven seasons. Then, for four seasons, 1879 to 1882, Troy was home to the National League Troy Trojans. The Trojans were not competitive in the league, but they did have the biggest hitter in professional baseball, Dan Brouthers. For the 1883 season, the Trojans were not 'moved' to the New York Gothams, (later the New York, then San Francisco Giants), but as the Trojans team was disbanded, most of the players went to the new New York team intended to replace the Trojans. Troy was also the birthplace of the famous player Michael Joseph "King" Kelly.

Troy has been nearly destroyed by fire three times. In 1892, there were election riots there during which Robert Ross was murdered. One of his alleged slayers, "Bat" Shea, was executed in 1896.

In 1900 Troy annexed Lansingburgh, a former town and village in Rensselaer County. Lansingburgh is thus often referred to as "North Troy". However, prior to the annexation, that portion of Troy north of Division Street was called North Troy and the neighborhood south of Washington Park is referred to as South Troy. To avoid confusion with streets in Troy following the annexation, Lansingburgh's numbered streets were renamed: its 1st 2nd, 3rd Streets, etc., became North Troy's 101st, 102nd, 103rd Streets, etc.  Lansingburgh was home to the Lansingburgh Academy.  Moby Dick was written by headmaster Herman Melville.

In addition to the strong presence of the early American steel industry, Troy was also a manufacturing center for shirts, shirtwaists, collars and cuffs. In 1825, a local resident Hannah Lord Montague, was tired of cleaning her blacksmith husband's shirts. She cut off the collars of her husband's shirts, since only the collar was soiled, bound the edges and attached strings to hold them in place. (This also allowed the collars and cuffs to be starched separately.) Hannah Montague's idea caught on, and changed the fashion for American men's dress for a century. Her patented collars and cuffs were first manufactured by Maullin & Blanchard, which eventually was absorbed by Cluett, Peabody & Company. Cluett's "Arrow shirts" are still worn by men across the country. The large labor force required by the shirt manufacturing industry also, in 1864, produced the nation's first female Labor Union, the Collar Laundry Union, founded in Troy by Kate Mullaney. On February 23, 1864, 300 members of the union went on strike. After six days, the laundry owners gave in to their demands and raised wages 25 percent. There were further developments in the industry, when, in 1933, Sanford Cluett invented a process he called Sanforization, a process which shrinks cotton fabrics thoroughly and permanently. Cluett, Peabody's last main plant in Troy was closed in the 1980's, but the industrial output of the plant had long been transferred to facilities in the South.

One of the downtown landmarks of troy was Frear's Troy Cash Bazaar, also known as Frear's Department Store, which was one of the largest in the state.

When the iron & steel industry moved to Pennsylvania and beyond, and with a similar downturn in the collar industry, Troy's prosperity began to fade. After the passage of Prohibition, and given the strict control of Albany by the O'Connell political machiene, Troy became a way station for an illegal alcohol trade from Canada to New York City. Likewise, the stricter control of morality laws in the neighboring New England states, left Troy with openly operating speakeasys and brothels. Gangsters such as Legs Diamond conducted business in Troy. This gave Troy a somewhat colorful reputation through World War II. A few of the finer houses have since been converted to fine restaurants, such as the former Old Daly Inn, now MJ's on the Avenue..

Legends (The legend of Mame Faye) and history mix to make Troy a truly colorful city -

All was generally well in the small town called Troy until the afternoon of October 6, 1793 when fire destroyed 14 houses and stores. This loss stirred the citizens of Troy into action, Subael Gorham was appointed Superintendent of the settlement's fire hooks, axes and ladders, and an act of the New York State Legislature compelled the citizens to purchase buckets and firefighting tools.

The engine proved practical and soon two more Amoskeags were purchased, one later that year and a third in 1862. On May 10th 1862 Troy suffered its greatest loss by fire. A spark from a locomotive ignited a covered wood railroad bridge to Center Island, and a strong west wind drove the fire into Troy and by evening 508 buildings had been destroyed and at least 8 persons lost their lives. The financial loss was $3.9 million dollars.

Troy installed a new Gamewell Fire Alarm system in late 1868 and placed the system in service on March 25, 1869. Alarms were rung on fire station gongs and the bells of several city churches.

Troy’s last hand engine was replaced with a steamer in April 1882 when Hope Steam Fire Engine Co. No. 7 was formed.

By 1906 the city had 1119 volunteers and 61 career firefighters. On May 7, 1908 Truck 2 was formed as the city’s first fully paid company. Engine 14 became the first fully paid engine company on February 2, 1912.

The following year a Knox Chemical-Hose Wagon stationed with E-8 became the City’s first piece of motorized fire apparatus.